Aidan MacGuire and I met Mairead McGuinness MEP yesterday. She was
rather overwhelmed by all of the lobbying, and I think the only
people that she is likely to see are constituents, and anyone that
does go to see her would need to be very clear with her. She was
particularly offended by some of the really aggressive lobbying by
some idiots on our side, and this made her much more sympathetic to
the pro-swpat lobby.
She had received emails from (supposed) Ericsson employees who said
that if the current Directive wasn't past they would lose their
jobs. She was quite influenced by this. Aidan and I tried to point
out why this wasn't true, that we wanted to maintain the real status
quo, which was that software patents aren't enforceable (even though
they may have been granted) in the EU.
I think Aidan and I made a good impact, and by the end of the meeting
she was on-side, but I am concerned that she may sway back after her
next meeting with the other side.
If anyone gets meetings with her in the future (and they should
probably be Irish SMEs, I don't think she will have another meeting
with IFSO as she feels she has already heard their point of view)
they need to be really crystal clear with her (something,
unfortunately, that we aren't very good at), she has no appetite for
getting even more confused over this.
Ian.